The new wave of digital information requires archival institutions to develop new methods and e-services to handle the large amounts of digital information that is in their custody. Swedish Archival institutions have in accordance with the Public and Secrecy Act traditionally promoted the preservation and re-use of public information. The thesis investigates how the Swedish municipal archives are dealing with digital provision of their digital holdings to the public. At present, the Swedish Public Sector Information (PSI) directive places additional demands on them to make digital information available. This information is referred to as open data. This means that that they need to use digital tools to be able to do so. The study involved four Swedish municipal archival institutions, employed a qualitative research methodology and uses the case study method to gain a deeper insight of the phenomenon under study. It employed interviews as a data collecting technique. The results showed that to make digital infor-mation available it requires the implementation of an e-archive which consolidates and facilitates the management of information. The study results further showed that the PSI-directive is not fully understood by some of the interviewed archivists and some of the institutions also lack e-archives. In conclusion, the thesis analysis confirmed that the municipal archival institutions found it difficult to make their digital holdings available and to implement the PSI directive. This was due to organizational problems such as weak budgets, lack of high-quality data sources, knowledge and ambiguities in the PSI-directive. This is a two years master’s thesis in Archival Science.

Öppna geodata är idag (2016) ett ofta debatterat ämne och många aktörer i samhället får mer och mer intresse för frågan, i synnerhet i offentlig sektor. Även på riksnivå har politiker börjat verka för öppna geodata, där riksdagen nyligen har beslutat kring ett flertal motioner i frågan. Regeringen har dessutom uppdragit om studier om öppna geodata. Sverige ligger efter övriga nordiska länder, men även andra länder har kommit längre i utvecklingen mot öppna geodata. Idag arbetas mycket på området och myndigheten med ansvar för geodata i Sverige, Lantmäteriet, har börjat öppna datamängder, och fortsätter verka för vidare öppnanden. Detta kandidatexamensarbete har genomförts vid Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan, KTH, i samarbete med Agima Management AB. Arbetet syftar till att studera vilka möjligheter öppna geodata medför och vilka utmaningar en organisation ställs inför när organisationen ska öppna geodata. Genom en litteraturstudie kring olika åsikter, främst ifrån offentlig sektor, och intervjuer med personer verksamma inom geodataområdet sammanfattas dessa möjligheter och utmaningar med öppna geodata. Resultaten av arbetet visar att de främsta möjligheterna med öppna geodata är näringslivsutveckling och innovationskraft samt effektiviseringspotential i offentlig sektor. Vidare leder detta till positiva samhällsekonomiska effekter. De utmaningar en offentlig organisation ställs inför vid ett öppnande av geodata är framför allt finansieringen av geodata. Detta eftersom geodata idag delvis finansieras av avgifter från användare. I förlängningen finns utmaningar med att upprätthålla en hög kvalitet på geodata om geodata till exempel skulle skattefinansieras. Detta blir därför en ständig fråga för tjänstemän och politiker. Slutsatsen är att eftersom möjligheterna övervinner många av utmaningarna, då dessa inte är direkta nackdelar utan något som behöver lösas på ett annat sätt än idag, kan öppna geodata antas bli vanligare i Sverige på sikt. En av anledningarna till den relativt låga hastighet Sverige håller på området verkar vara att tjänstemän och politiker inte är på samma nivå i frågan idag. / Open geodata is today (2016) a highly debated topic and the interest for the matter is increasing, especially for the public sector. In the parliament, politicians have started to work for open geodata, where the parliament recently decided about several motions on the matter. Recently, there have also been assignments from the government about studying open geodata impacts. Sweden is behind the other Nordic countries and several other countries have evolved further towards open geodata as well. Today there is a lot of work on open geodata questions and the Swedish mapping, cadastral and land registration authority, Lantmäteriet, has started to open some of its data, and is aiming towards opening more. This Bachelor of Science thesis has been conducted at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, in cooperation with Agima Management AB. The study aims towards describing the opportunities that open geodata brings, and the challenges that an organization faces when opening data. These opportunities and challenges are summarized through a literature review of different opinions, mostly from the public sector, and personal interviews with persons in the geodata field. The results show that the foremost opportunities with open geodata is in developing business and innovation as well as efficiency improvements in the public sector which leads to economic gains. The challenges a public organization faces when trying to open geodata is mainly financial. The financial issues come from the current model where fees from users are financing the operations. In extension, there will also be challenges with sustaining a high quality of geodata, which will be a constant question for officials and politicians if geodata, for example is financed by taxes. The conclusion is that since the opportunities overcome the challenges, as many of the challenges are not direct drawbacks, but rather something that has to be solved in a different way than it is today, open geodata may become more normal in Sweden eventually. One of the reasons for Sweden’s relatively low speed in the area seems to be that public officials and politicians are at different levels in the matter today.

Research report presented to SBL, Unisa, Midrand. / The purpose of this research is to investigate the impact of employees’ perceptions on the effectiveness of the board in the public sector. The units of analysis relevant to this research were the board of directors and the employees in the public sector. Thus, two questionnaires were designed: one for the board members, and the other for employees. The questionnaires were designed around various themes aimed at establishing the following: whether employees in the Public Sector perceive their Board of Directors to be effective, whether the Board of Directors in the Public Sector believe that their effectiveness is impacted by employee perceptions, and to determine what factors need to be in place to promote a positive relationship between employee perceptions and board effectiveness. The survey confirmed that the board members do believe that they are effective in the execution of their functions. The employees do agree that the board plays an important role in organisations, that organisations will be impacted negatively without the direction of the board, and that the board is conducting its roles and responsibilities as effectively as possible. In terms of whether the board of directors in the public sector believe that their effectiveness is impacted by the employees’ perceptions, the results from both the employees and members of the board were inclined towards ‘agree’ on the Likert scale. The survey also revealed that the prevalence of other factors in the organisation, (Transparency and Accountability, Communication, Stakeholder Relations Strategy, Board’s high Ethical Standard, Speedily Resolution of Labour disputes, Commitment to employee development, and Consistency in policy implementation), will have a high impact in their organisations, particularly in promoting a positive relationship between employee perceptions and board effectiveness.

Text in Afrikaans / The study investigates legal and administrative aspects of the interaction between public sector and private enterprise effected by state procurement of goods and services. South African government contracts are, despite their elaborate regulation by statutory and administrative prescription, regarded as the subject matter of the private law of contract. In this regard, they may be distinguished from the contrats administratif of the French and related legal systems and resemble their British and, more closely, federal American counterparts. Important aspects of government procurement, notably the contractual capacity of organs of the state, those administrative procedures which precede the conclusion of agreements with contractors, and the right reserved to the state to rescind, in the public interest, a contract duly entered into, are nevertheless to be determined by the principles of administrative law. The budgeting, audit and parliamentary control of procurement expenditure, along with the invitation of suppliers' bids and the award of contracts, are the principal administrative aspects of the study and are analysed in Chapters III and IV. The pricing of government contracts in South Africa is, with scant exception, determined by competitive tender. Restrictive trade practices and bid preferences awarded by procuring agencies in the pursuit of socio-economic policies were found, in Chapter V, to impede the operation of free market forces. The law of contract features most prominently in the performance of contracts and is examined in Chapter VI. The discussion, depicting the essential provisions of six standard form contracts commonly employed by government for stores and works, is fairly concise. References to British and American procurement law and practice, a consistent feature of the study, are, however, extensive. In South Africa, the settlement of procurement disputes is generally entrusted to the ordillary courts. Chapter VII deals with a number of special remedies accorded to the state, procedural prerequisites for the institution of civil actions against the state, and alternatives to litigation, especially arbitration and administrative appeal. The final chapters survey the efficacy of procurement as an instrument of socio-economic policy, and advance a few recommendations regarding the proper law and more efficient administration of government procurement. / Constitutional, International & Indigenous Law / 1 online resource (306 leaves) / LL. D.

This Ph.D thesis is made up of six chapters: together with Introduction and Concluding Remarks, there are one extensive literature review and three main essays. The theme of this thesis is "The Political Economy of Public Sector Governance" and I explore it by analysing the two main actors in the interaction between citizens and politicians: Mass Media and Bureaucracy. The World Bank in several publications since early 2000 has brought to the attention of politicians, public servants, social scientists and, as far as an institution like the World Bank can do, the general public that what really is important and does make a difference in the economic growth and social development of nations are not policies but (political and social) institutional quality. In order to make institutions work well, so they are able to promote the greatest welfare for all the citizens, it is necessary to have good governance. One of the ingredients of an optimal governance arrangement is the possibility for the citizens to make their government accountable for what it does (not) and responsive to their needs. Therefore, in order to have good political institutions citizens have, on one hand, to control their government and, on the other hand, to voice their needs, preferences and ideas, also when the ballot box is not ready at hand. Mass Media has at least these two functions in the relationship between the citizens and the (incumbent) politicians. In the first essay I analyse citizens' voting decisions and collusion between media and politicians and how this phenomenon affects the behaviour of citizens towards disciplining and selecting the incumbent politician, when citizens have at their hands two sources of information about the quality of the incumbents and their performance: the quantity of a good publicly supplied by the government and a signal coming from the mass media on politician honesty. The setting comprises a two period game, where voters, in the first period, have to decide, observing the information available through media and good publicly produced, whether to vote off or reelect the incumbent politician to the second period electorate mandate. By employing both two signals, citizens manage to sort out honest politicians from dishonest ones more often than if they were relying on media information only. Moreover the existence of both signals makes collusion harder to achieve than in the case of one signal only. Furthermore, the welfare analysis reveals that, contrary to previous findings, the presence of media is not always welfare improving. The usefulness of media for citizens depends critically on the time discount factor between the two periods: when the time discount factor is larger than a certain threshold, it is optimal for the citizens to receive information from media; when the time discount factor is lower than the threshold, their optimal decision is not to get any information. Finally, I argue that when rules at the constitutional level are not possible and citizens cannot commit to have less information, then collusion between media and politician can be welfare improving for citizens, contrary to previous results in the literature. In the second essay I investigate the role of Mass Media as a bottom-up way of communicating dispersed information from citizens to incumbent. Citizens transmit useful information thanks to the newspapers they buy and read. However, these newspapers are produced by a third party (a Media Tycoon) that has his own incentives. In particular the Media Tycoon has to decide whether to produce a newspaper that allows the citizens to participate in the public debate (Broadsheet) or does not (Tabloid). Given the fact that this instrument can be bought but not directly produced by the citizens, there exists a tension between the benefit of using a newspaper to express citizens'views and the possibility that this newspaper can be actually produced. Results show that producing a Broadsheet always improves the quality of policy decision making on part of the incumbent. A notable result is that in order to enhance the quality of the public decision making it is better to have any Broadsheet than not having one, whatever is the public stance the newspaper takes about the issue at stake. In this essay I first assume that there is only one group of citizens which is interested in having the optimal policy adopted, i.e. the Middle Class and I assume the Middle Class citizens are the only one who read newspapers. Subsequently I analyse how the results change when citizens from the other classes read newspapers as well. I show how the "partisan readers", committed to buy the Broadsheet supporting the policy they prefer, can ease the production of the Broadsheet. In this case the existence of partisanship and of ideological readers make the implementation of optimal policy easier, not harder, contrary to conventional wisdom. In the work of the World Bank, and in all the scientific production about how to establish and foster the development of good governance, corruption is one of the main diseases that can affect the correct relationship between citizens and public officials. So it is important to study how good institutional quality can fight corruption in several different fields of the political and economic environment. The third essay evaluates the effect of corruption on the regulation of business entry. A theoretical agency model of bribes is introduced, with strategic interaction between the firm, the corruptible public sector employee and the government. This model allows the evaluation of reforms targeting business startup procedures with regards to the incentives of the various actors involved in this process. Findings show that corruption in equilibrium between entrant firms and public servants could be self-sustained in the absence of government intervention. When deriving the equilibrium outcomes of some reforms like performance wages, privatisation and full liberalisation of entry, results show that transaction costs related to bribes are central in determining the optimal reform strategy. Although liberalisation is the preferred reform option for firms, government fiscal revenues and overall social welfare, firms surprisingly would prefer performance wages implemented in public registry service rather than the privatisation of this service. This holds despite the additional tax burden on firms necessary to finance higher civil servants'wages.

Marknadskommunikation har blivit en alltmer viktig och central del inom ett företag. Detta pågrund av att företag erbjuds mer och mer kanaler och tillvägagångssätt att kommunicera motsin marknad. Genom att ingående teoretiskt ramverk visar på många svagheter imarknadskommunikation mot den offentliga sektorn. Svagheter finns även inom denoffentliga sektorn så har en studie genomförts för att belysa om dem problem och det storagap som finns i facklitteratur och forskning stämmer överens i praktiken. Care of Sweden ärett företag som jobbar med trycksårsförebyggande madrasser och deras kunder är offentligaoch privata vårdboenden, sjukhus samt andra vårdinstanser. All försäljning ochkommunikation sker mot den offentliga sektorn via upphandlingar. Denna studie syftar till attlyfta fram dem tillvägagångssätt som finns att utföra marknadsföring ochmarknadskommunikation på idag samt att belysa olika förbättringar man som företag kangöra.Genom utförda intervjuer med olika nyckelpersoner på Care of Sweden samt insamlade faktafrån artiklar och facklitteratur så har författarna skapat sig en bild av den verklighet som råderidag när man idkar kommunikation inför och under pågående upphandlingar. Man har kunnatse tydliga svagheter samt styrkor i det system som råder idag, till exempel att offentlig sektorinte vill ha regelbunden kommunikation. / ompany. This is because the company is offered more and more channels and ways tocommunicate with their market. By a detailed theoretical framework that demonstrates themany weaknesses in marketing to the public sector. Weaknesses are also in the public sector,a study has been conducted to shed light on those problems and the large gap that exists in theliterature and research is consistent in practice. Care of Sweden is a company that works withpressure sore prevention mattresses and their clients are public and private nursing homes,hospitals and other health institutions. All sales and communication takes place on the publicsector through procurement. This study aims to highlight those practices that are to carry outpromotion and marketing of today and to highlight various improvements that the businessescan do.Through interviews conducted with key members at Care of Sweden as well as data collectedfrom articles and literature, the authors created a picture of the reality today when engaged incommunication before and during the ongoing procurement. They have been able to seeclearly the weaknesses and strengths of the systems that exists today, for example, that thepublic sector does not want to have regular communication.

E-Government applications have emerged rapidly in the developing world. This is due to its usefulness as an enabling tool to increase efficiency and enhance transparency. This research focuses on insights into the implementation process of e-Government within the context of developing countries. Institutional theory was the change theory applied since it explains why organisational structures and values endure. The neo-institutional theory was adopted by using multi-level approach and multi-stakeholder analysis, and these enable environmental forces to be used with other factors such as organisational and role of network actors. Due to its flexibility, institutional theory has been combined it with other theories and models such as: Lewin’s 3-stage model (deeply enriches understanding of how change occurs as well as the role of change agent); Driver-Barrier model (to assist in recognising the potential drivers and barriers that might influence successful e-Government implementation); Comprehensive Barrier framework (relevant for study of e-Government and information system barriers that could be used as checklist for project planning and evaluation);and Three-Quarter Moon model (developed for e-Commerce adoption and applied the model to e-Government implementation) The research questions and proposed framework were tested and validated by carrying out qualitative analysis using multi-methods approach for data collection. Case study research was adopted with focus on government-to-employee (G2E) within public sector organisations in Nigeria, West Africa. The research collection strategy included an in-depth investigation of organisations’ information systems using both primary and secondary data collection. The series of techniques adopted are questionnaire responses, interviews, document analysis and observation. The research findings suppose that most of the factors – internal and external, and characteristics – benefits, barriers and risks, identified as influential to e-Government implementation are similar to those discussed in existing literature, although some may be specific to the Nigerian public sector context. Based in the findings, the researcher was able to reconceptualise the developed model for e-Government implementation, which was specific to the case study. The model was then extended for application by other countries. A novel subset model – Rectangular Four-Actor-Activity - was also developed for identifying e-Government implementation key actors and their main activities, which is a subset of the holistic framework. The conceptualised model should help managers and academicians to understand the step-by-step guide to e-Government implementing process by ranking and mapping of relevant concepts and factors within the framework, understanding the difference between theory and practice in terms of e-Government implementation. The researcher therefore accomplishes that this study extends to the knowledge in the aspect of e-Government implementation from organisational perspectives, Government-to-Employee (G2E); thus contributing to the Information System (and e-Government implementation) literature through reviewing the range of studies using a wider multi-level and multi-method approach. This includes combining institutional theory with other models. This enables development of a holistic conceptual model for implementing e-Government, including a subset model for e-Government key actors and their main activities throughout the development life cycle.

Over the last two decades, public sector organisations in the UK have invested heavily on electronic government (E-Government) projects to transform the services offered to citizens. E-government is seen as an enabler that helps public services to become more efficient, transparent, cost effective and accountable. In this respect the implementation of e-government projects have been influenced by private sector thinking borrowed from New Public Management (NPM) principles. However, the evaluation of e-government under the influence of NPM has been primarily focused on economic and technical outputs whereas its value to citizens has been largely ignored. Furthermore, research shows that many e-government projects have failed to deliver the desired outcomes when influenced by NPM principles. Recent studies have emerged that highlights the significance of public value to understand the broader outcomes of e-government services. The aim of this study is to explore the concept of public value and identify the antecedents that affect value and the consequences of value on e-government. To do so, this study develops a conceptual model grounded on Public Value Theory, DeLone and McLean IS Success Model and Means End Chain Theory combining the disciplines of Public Administration, Information Systems and Marketing. The conceptual model was validated through Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) based on online surveys of 705 users of egovernment services in the UK. The findings have highlighted significant theoretical and practical implications for researchers and policy makers. This research highlights that the key dimensions (services, outcome and trust) of public value theory cannot be validated on their own as they are far too abstract in current literature. Therefore, this study verifies that public value can only be validated by drawing from the multiple fields of Public Administration, Information System and Marketing. From a practical perspective, the study offers policy makers a frame of reference to understand the influence of value on the adoption and re-use of e-government services.

The purpose of the study was to describe how networking can provide competitive advantage to facilitate growth when offering consultancy services toward the public sector. The majority of companies are looking to expand their business due to different reasons. With todays intense competiton on the market it is becoming increasingly important to outperform competitors in order to maintain the current customerbase aswell as it is to gain new businesses. Companies that work toward the public sector have special laws, directives and regulations that have to be taken into account when conducting business. Involvement with networks is based on different reasons, it can be due to gaining new customers, contacts and knowledge to name a few.   The authors have performed a qualitative case study with a focus on two companies. The empirical findings is based on information collected through interviews with these companies and through a quanitative self-completion questionnaire with a sample group of 16 repondents. By analysing the empirical information the authors have concluded that networking activities are important in order to prosper growth. However, there is a lack of networking strategies among the two companies of focus which constraint the firms to get the most out of the networks.

Background: In an increasingly globalised world, municipalities more than ever have to compete with each other. Thus, the need to create a brand image has become vital for municipalities. Place branding is the tool that has enabled municipalities to create a brand image in order to attract stakeholders such as potential visitors, residents and businesses. The sustainability phenomenon Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has recently become an attractive factor within place branding. Although, the concept of CSR is most commonly implemented within the private sector, CSR initiatives within the public sector are recognised as an integral part. Therefore, the issue of how municipalities can market and communicate their CSR-actives has arisen.  Purpose: The aim of this research is to explore how Swedish municipalities can market their CSR-activities, in order to gain competitive advantages as attractive cities. In further details, this research focuses on how municipalities can use place branding to market their CSR-activities and how they can communicate this to current and potential stakeholders. Method: In order to fulfil this purpose, an interpretivist methodology was adopted with an abductive approach. In regard to this, an exploratory design was developed. More specifically, it was conducted with a mixed method, using a quantitative content analysis and qualitative indepth interviews with knowledgeable experts within CSR from the most relevant departments in the municipalities. Conclusion: The findings indicate that the use of place branding can help municipalities with a sustainable profile to gain competitive advantages. Furthermore, it became apparent that the use of place branding strategies, such as slogan, logotypes, events and cooperation with stakeholders, could enhance the brand image of municipalities and enable them to attract potential stakeholders. In regards to the communication channels, the findings suggest municipalities to communicate their CSR-activities through websites, social media, press conferences, seminars and events.